Speaking

This presentation breaks down my academic journal article on logistics innovation in China into essential insights and pragmatic take-aways for today’s on-demand businesses.

On a growth trajectory that will take it from $505 billion in 2018 to over $735 billion in 2023, retail e-commerce is driving an exponential increase in last-mile deliveries. New terrain for many companies, closing the final-mile gap is challenging even the largest organizations to find ways to get “closer” to their customers without over-investing in real estate, inventory, and transportation. For help solving these problems, U.S. companies need look no further than China, where similar mega-trends have been accelerating for the last 20 years. In this presentation, our expert will draw on 27 years of experience at UPS plus current academic research to highlight logistics innovations in China that could be applied in the U.S.

The Covid-19 pandemic was an inflection point for the eCommerce supply chain.  Fundamental changes occurred in supplier offerings and consumer preferences during this challenging time.  Such structural changes cannot be addressed by doing what has been done before, just better, faster, and cheaper.  These are changes that shift the boundaries that decisions are based on, making new things possible.

This talk focuses on the trends creating this supply chain inflection point:

1. (Accelerating) Rise of eCommerce
2. Rise of the Retailer Logistician
3. Rise of Same-day/Next-day Delivery
4. Rise of the Data Scientist
5. Rise of Robotics, Automation, and Autonomy

What caused these trends? How are companies reacting? What are the emerging best practices for supply chain leaders? What strategic options should firms consider and what are the pros and cons?  All these questions are answered in this fast-paced, pragmatic look into the future.

The spoiled girl in Willy Wonka sang, “Don’t care how, I want it now.”  Consumers today go several steps further, the want exactly what they want, when and where they want it, and at the lowest possible price.  If they don’t like it, they want to be able to return it easily (and for free).

This presentation draws on Alan’s industry experience with UPS, research at The University of Tennessee Supply Chain Institute, and advising startups and Fortune 500 companies trying to thrive in the on-demand economy.  Consumer expectations seldom go in reverse.  Solving the rubics cube of great service at a profit is the answer.

Four critical components of a Veruca Salt Solution will be explained:

1. New on-demand delivery models challenging the status quo
2. New fulfillment:  From Airbnb-for-warehousing to dark stores
3. Getting ahead of product returns: Every system needs a drain
4. The next battlefield:  Middle mile is where the battle will be won or lost

Change is not new; the speed and breadth of change are new. Fueled by the connecting and thinking technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, new companies with new business models have been displacing incumbents at an unprecedented pace. The average age of the top 10 S&P companies dropped from 100 years in 2010 to 30 years in 2019. Why? With all the well-documented lessons from victims of disruption—books and seminars espousing the latest remedies—and consulting firms standing at the ready, corporate failures should be going down, not up. Right?

This talk brings the challenge and promise of organizational velocity to life through firsthand accounts and compelling stories from dozens of private and public company leaders as well as colonels and generals in the military. The insights from these interviews, coupled with Alan’s experience in the trenches, are distilled in stories, examples, and practical advice to enable incumbent firms to thrive in disruption.

This update of my 2015 TED Talk focuses on how the convergence of technologies underlying industries has removed longstanding structural and industry barriers, allowing entirely new business models to flourish.

Every business develops “there way of doing things.” Over time, these habits become unconscious drivers of everyday decision making, both good and bad. In this talk, Alan draws on his experience getting his PhD after 27 years in industry and discovering, for the first time, critical lessons trapped in academic literature that can help firms overcome their own cognitive barriers, adjust their corporate control valves, and unleash the accelerators to their business.

In this talk, Alan translates five decades of academic research into pragmatic actions every company can take to get out of their own way and thrive in our fast-paced world filled with uncertainty and opportunity.